PAHO: Deaths from heart disease increasing

DATA from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) shows more people die each year from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than from any other disease.

Dr Erica Wheeler, PAHO country representative for TT, speaking yesterday at the TT Global Hearts Initiative at the Hilton Trinidad, St Ann's, said CVDs accounted for 17.6 million deaths per year in 2016, and this number is expected to grow to more than 23.6 million by 2030. She said over three-quarters of heart disease and stroke-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Hypertension (high blood pressure), she said, was the main factor for CVD with global mortality, showing that it was responsible for 9.4 million deaths a year.

Global Hearts was launched in 2016 by the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support governments in strengthening the prevention and control CVDs.

The initiative comprises five packages which provide high-impact, evidence-based interventions that, when used together, will have a major impact on improving global heart health.

On the prevention side, the Global Hearts Initiative comprises the Mpower package for tobacco control, in line with the WHO Framework Convention on tobacco control, the Active package for increasing physical activity, the Shake package for salt reduction, and the Replace package to eliminate industrially-produced trans fats from the global food supply. On the management side, the Hearts technical package is aimed at strengthening the management of CVDs in primary health care.

Wheeler said the initiative is to strengthen the existing primary health care and enhance the health system's response to NCDs. She said TT was in the second cohort, along with Argentina, Panama and Ecuador, to implement the Global Hearts initiative.

She said tobacco smoking, including second-hand smoke, was one of the top three leading risk factors for disease, and had contributed to 7.2 million deaths in 2015. Smoking ranked fourth in causing disabilities.

"We know that hypertension is the main factor for CVD and global mortality shows that it caused 9.4 million deaths per year. This is something that we cannot afford to not pay attention to."

Wheeler said there were 200 million people living in the Americas with non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and in the Caribbean, three out of four people die from NCDs, which she described as "quite extraordinary, with close to 40 per cent of those deaths being premature, that is between the ages of 30 to 70 years.

"We clearly have to address this issue and it means shifting away from a focus on disease to people and community-centred health care. This includes ongoing and continuous chronic care, including self-care."